The Economist

The EconomistAugust 4th 2018 Asia 43

Y

OSHIHISA AONO could be a model for Japanese executives.

The offices of Cybozu his software company would appear

staid were they in Palo Alto. But they are radical for central Tokyo

where each day waves of black-suited Stakhanovites make their

way to grimly utilitarian offices. Slap-bang in the centre of Cy-

bozu’s headquarters are stuffed-toy monkeys and parrots. Staff in

casual wear and trainers perch on stools sipping coffee and tap-

ping away at laptops. Mr Aono himselfleaves work at 4.30pm to

see his three children. He takes paternity leave unlike most Japa-

nese fathers. Good lord he even goes on holiday.

To many Japanese Mr Aono’s work style will seem extreme.

To many in the West it is Japan’s long working hours that are out-

landish. Japanese work notoriously hard—to which the abun-

dance of comatose passengers on the commuter trains attests.

Many men work so late or get so sozzled after work to relieve

stress that they don’t make it home. Hence the ease with which

early the next morning you can buy a cheap shirt and tie in the

convenience stores in the business districts ofNagoya Osaka and

the capital.

Twelve-hour days are common. Holidays are stingy—just ten

days a year when you start out at work—yet Japanese workers on

average take only halftheir due. Japan leads the world in paterni-

ty leave—up to a year. Yet barely 5% of men take advantage of it

and then usually for just a few days. Japan has given the world

the term karoshi or death by overwork.

Japan’s work system dates to the end of the second world war

when defeated soldiers swapped uniforms for suits. Salarymen

became the shock battalions of Japan’s economic miracle re-

building the country during an era of turbocharged growth. Com-

panies needed lots of male workers quickly (women worked as

secretaries and then became homemakers once they had found a

husband—often at work). In return for absolute loyalty workers

at big companies got regular wage rises generous benefits and

the guarantee of employment for life. Company ties were some-

times stronger than family ones.

The model now holds Japan back. It is miserable for male

workers especially as companies no longer make the money to

offer new employees the same benefits and guarantees. It is even

worse for women. Those who succeed in a male-dominated

workplace risk all if they have children after which it is hard to

pick up careers again. A large number of women don’t return to

work at all. As for Japan’s young many opt out of corporate life to

open or staff boutiques cafés and the like. There they accept low

pay rather than toil in bleak offices. None of this helps companies

either—Japan has the lowest productivity of the G7.

Government and businesses increasingly acknowledge a pro-

blem but struggle to deal with it. It is telling that “Cool Biz” a bal-

lyhooed campaign launched in 2005 to get people to take off ties

and jackets at work was motivated not by a need to please work-

ers but to save on summer air-conditioning. These days bureau-

crats dress down during the sweltering summer months but em-

ployees at banks and the like rarely dare.

Pressure to create a better work environment is growing. After

a young female employee at Dentsu Japan’s advertising behe-

moth committed suicide in 2015 a court ruled that it was because

ofkaroshi. That was the cause of much hand-wringing. But more

broadly at a time when an expanding economy and a declining

population are creating severe labour shortages companies with

a reputation for grinding work struggle to attract staff. One wom-

an a senior executive who barely saw her children as she

climbed the corporate ladder wonders whether the sacrifices she

made were worth it.

Some companies really are trying to change. A consultant on

matters of employee well-being says she has never been so much

in demand. Panasonic which in 1965 was the first Japanese com-

pany to introduce a five-day week now lets people work from

home and wear jeans in the office. Yet powerful instincts of con-

formity and self-sacrifice still mark Japanese society. Panasonic

admits that few are willing to leave work early or wear jeans be-

fore other colleagues do the same first. People in authority need

to lead by example. Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike shutsher of-

fices each evening at 8pm; staff have no choice but to leave. By

contrast after weeks of debating radical change the Diet (parlia-

ment) recently passed greatly watered-down legislation. Over-

time hours were capped at an exhausting 100 hours a month.

Work harder at reform

Japanese continue to work long hours because almost without

exception big companies continue to judge employees by input

not output. They base promotion and pay not on merit but on

age and years at the company. It is almost impossible by law to

fire incompetent staff hired on permanent contracts.

Only a drastic overhaul of the labour system will do not tin-

kering at the edges. Above all the law needs to make it easier to

hire and—especially—fire so that people move jobs much more

than now. That would shake up the relationship between em-

ployers and employees. Productivity would rise. Workplaces

would be more diverse. Women would have many more

chances. But so too would men: for instance fathers could play a

greater part in bringing up their offspring. With better work pros-

pects couples might even have more babies an obsession with

Japanese demographers worrying about the country’s falling

population.

The time is ripe for change. The economy is in relatively good

shape. Japanese companies are keen to adapt to be competitive

abroad. Yet too many of Japan’s politicians and corporate titans

are male hidebound and timid. Many workers are undemand-

ing. Conformism remains powerful at work more than any-

where. Change is coming but it is coming all too slowly. 7

When everyone is the last one out

No one is happy with Japan’s workstyle but it is proving hard to change

Banyan